Dharavi Commercial Tour

47 students from MMS-1, Batch of 2018-20, JBIMS visited the Dharavi Industrial Area for a
Commercial Tour on 12th August, 2018. We were accompanied by Prof. Dr. Kavita Laghate,
Prof. Dur Khan, Prof. Dr. Stephen D’Silva and Prof. Sandesh Kirkire. The students were
guided by an employee from FRS Tours who guide various tours in and around Mumbai.

Introduction:

• Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Justin Trudeau, visited the Dharavi Commercial Market
• American Tourister and Levi’s bags are produced in Dharavi
• 60% of Mumbai’s income comes from Dharavi
• 1500 families live there
• USD $ 1 billion industry
• Major raw material provider to many industries (for example: textile, bags, etc.)

Bag Maker (B. H. Bags):

The bag maker provided 7 types of good

quality bags at a cost of around Rs. 300 – Rs.
400. He creates his own design and sells
around 2000 pieces per month. His margin for
the sale of each bag was very small (around Rs.
10 – Rs. 15 per bag). He works in rented space
which cost around Rs. 30,000 per month.

Cardboard Box Manufacturer:

The cartons for mineral

water companies like Bisleri
and Aquafina are
manufactured by them.
They make around 100
boxes per day and their
margin per box is
approximately Rs. 15.
Talcum Powder Supplier (All India Mineral Corporation):

The company is a supplier of talcum powder, Rangoli powder and geru. They buy sacks of
50kg and sell to the retailers in packs of 1kg. They also work in the sale and purchase of
black sand which is used in the creation of Ganpati idols. As the festival of Ganpati is just a
month away, they said that they would have good business this month.

Mission Gulistan (Abid Khan):

`We met Mr. Abid Khan during

our visit and he explained us
about the current venture that he
has undertaken. He is a part of a
group which believes in
improving the living conditions
and surroundings of Dharavi.
With this aim in mind, they have
started providing flowers to
people in exchange for garbage,
which they dispose off properly.
The motive behind this is to avoid
littering in public places. In
future, they are planning to
undertake endeavours like
development of water fountains
in the Dharavi area and cleaning
the roadside gutters.
Clothes Manufacturer (A-Boy
Creation):

This establishment worked in

tailoring and altering of children’s
clothes. They have 8 tailoring
machines and 16 workers to work on
them. They create 200 pieces of
finished clothes each day. They have
a large working area and pay around
Rs. 53,000 rent per month. They
generally have good business, but
they said that business suffered after
demonetisation.

Visit to Bakery at Dharavi:

During our visit at Dharavi, we happened to talk to a bakery manufacturer and visit his
establishment and we found that he
makes bread and other bakery
products at cheap prices as
compared to the regular
manufacturers. We checked the
manufacturing processes and as
informed by the owner, he supplies
around 250 – 300 Kgs of bread across various areas of Mumbai on a daily basis. He sells the
bread at around 25% margin and the other products are sold at a higher margin.
Glass factory:

Their establishment worked in

the field of cutting and
polishing the glasses. Their
input raw material is usually
7x12 sq.ft. glass sheet and their
output is the finished glass
according to the customer’s
requirement. The cost of
polishing the glass is around Rs.
30/ft.

Recycling Plastic:

The establishment was on creating minute

pieces from the input plastic pattis. They sell
these pieces to the recycling companies which
eventually melt and reuse the plastic. They sell
the pieces for Rs.5/kg to the recycling
companies.

Pot Maker (Savita Potteries):

They create around 25 pots per day. The favourable season for their business is the summer
season because the
pots dry quickly, this
ensures more
production of pots in
the same time frame.
We visited the

establishment in the rainy season and they said that the business was not doing well.
Generally their margin per pot is Rs.10.
Visit to a Plywood Supplier:

We visited a plywood supplier from where the carpenters and many companies dealing in
readymade furniture purchase their raw material. The quality of wood is lower than the
normal wood and it is normally damaged in case of contact with excessive water. As
explained by the owner, the wood is extensively used in readymade furniture whose life is
much lesser than the built furniture. The margins are around 25-30%.

Visit to a Gum Manufacturer:

We also verified a gum manufacturer who would refine the left over gum from the large
companies as and when they scrap their left over raw material. The owner of this unit would
collect this leftover at very nominal prices and then would run certain filters in order to
extract the gum and then would eventually sell it at around Rs. 200/kg which is significantly
lesser than the price of the company. He would end up selling around 25 to 30 kgs of gum
per day.

Second Hand Electronic Appliances (M

Traders): They purchase used electronics
from around the city and after servicing,
they make these appliances available to
the customers looking for second hand
electronic devices. They usually provide a
6-month warranty for each appliance.
Some of the appliances that they sell and
their corresponding approximate costs
are as follows-

• Washing Machine – Rs.6000

• 1-ton Air Conditioner – Rs.8000

Recycle Collection:

They collect the used newspapers from the

various raddiwalas around the city, store them
and sell those to major recycling companies.
They transact around 100kg of newspaper
daily and the maximum margin that they
receive per kg is Rs.2. We visited during the
rainy season and asked them if the rains
caused them any problem, to which they
replied that it becomes easier if it rains
because eventually wet paper is required in
the recycling process.
Conclusion:

We interacted with various people (businessmen, professionals, employees, volunteers,

etc.) during our visit to the commercial area of Dharavi. We were astonished to see the
variety of businesses being carried out in the area. It was an eye opening experience how
the small scale industries contribute to such a large extent to the city’s total income. We
learnt many things about the day to day activities of the businesses and would like to
express our gratitude for arranging the trip.

Thank You